BKB Pregame Intel: Minnesota Golden Gophers

Roy Lamberton

01/19/2007

You might think Minnesota would be distracted by all the shuffling over in the football office ... but the Golden Gophers have their sights set on beating the Northwestern Wildcats, who are going for their 6th consecutive win against the Gophers. Who's really down in 2007, and who might be coming to play....

This has been a long season for the Gophers so far.

They're 1-3 in the Big 10, after their long time head coach Dan Monson suddenly
resigned after a 22 point loss to Clemson at home in the Big 10-- ACC challenge droppped the Gophers to 2-5.

They appeared to turn their non-conference season around after Jim Molinari took over - winning 3 games against 2 losses, but after beating Purdue in their Big 10 opener, they've dropped road games to Wisconsin and Iowa, and then lost at home to Illinois.

They've got the talent, and a pretty good "interim" head coach, but the loss of their Junior Center in the Wisconsin game has crippled their attack - Spencer Tollackson as the team leader in FG percentage, making over 50% of his shots from under the basket.

Interim Head Coach?After a dismal start
[2-5 with an exhibition loss to Winona State], and the resignation of Dan Monson, the Gophers promoted assistant Jim Molinari to lead the team through the rest of the season.

Molinari's been in charge before - he was the head man at Bradley for 11 years, 1991 - 2002 and headed up Northern Illinois before then. He also helped Ray Meyer at DePaul for 10 seasons, turning into a highly regarded recruiter.

He's a defensive guru, his teams typically play great D and prior to his elevation this year, was considered one of the top defensive assistants in basketball. As a side note, he has his law degree from DePaul.

Minny is 5-6 since he took over, wit wins against Arizona State and Purdue at home on the plus side of the ledger.
The return of SmithHighly regarde ForwardBrandon Smith was suspended for the first 3 games of the big 10 season [team rules violation] but came storming back against Illinois with 7 points, 5 rebounds and a block.

He had started 9 games prior to his suspension and the Gophers' are glad to have him back....

Brandon has done everything well since he has come back," Molinari said [Minnesota Daily].

He scored 7 points in 3 minutes against the Illini that sparked a 2nd half rally by the Gophers. Not bad for sitting out 3 games...

Dynamic DuoIt was a trio, but without the injured Tollackson, your defensive scheme has to be about stopping guard Lawrence McKenzie and forward Dan Coleman. Both Juniors, they lead the Gophers in scoring, averaging over 15 points per game each.

In Big 10 play, McKenzie has been Mr. Outside - hitting 8 of 20 attempts [33.3%] from outside the arc., while Coleman has done his
scoring inside. He's 22 of 54 [40.7%] for field goal shooting. McKenzie can also drive to the basket, he's 40.8% on FGs overall.

Both are hitting the boards but Coleman also gets offensive rebounds. He has over 2 offensive rebounds per game, and is averaging 8.2 per
game in the Big 10.

Add Coleman's 6 blocks and you can see who is playing the inside game for the Gophers.

All told, these two have 11.7 rebounds per game, and 29.7 ppg in conference play.

Injuries?Spencer Tollackson injured his wrist in the first half of game at Wisconsin. At the time he had 11 points but has not played since. The Gophers have not won since that injury.